70,000 cleared after Real bomb scare

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Spectators leave their seats as they are evacuated from the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.Photo: AP

A bomb threat in the name of ETA Basque separatists forced
70,000 to evacuate Santiago Bernabeu stadium minutes before the end
of a Real Madrid game.

The decision to abandon the game against Real Sociedad three
minutes from time and evacuate the crowd was taken after Basque
newspaper Gara said it received a warning from a caller claiming to
represent ETA that there was a bomb in the ground.

The caller said the bomb would explode at 9 pm but the warning
proved false. Police with sniffer dogs searched the stadium and
found no bomb.

"The police have said they have completed their search and have not
found anything," Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told
reporters.

"The best thing we can all do now is to put this nightmare
behind us."

Real Madrid's star-studded team, including Brazil's Ronaldo and
England's David Beckham, suddenly trooped off the pitch with the
score tied at 1-1 against Real Sociedad, a team from San Sebastian
in the Basque country.

An announcement over the public address system told the crowd to
leave.

Spectators left the stadium in an orderly way, clearing the ground
in less than 15 minutes. Hundreds streamed across the pitch on
their way to the exits.

Outside, a few people could be seen in tears due to nerves but
emergency officials said no one had been treated for any
injury.

The police ordered the evacuation because their priority was to
ensure the safety of everyone in the ground, the Interior Ministry
said in a statement.

Some of the players left the ground in their kit but were later
allowed back to the changing room.

The Spanish football federation will meet on Monday to decide
whether to let the result stand or play the remaining minutes of
the game later.
If the result remains at 1-1, Real would drop to fourth in the
Primera Liga, 11 points behind leaders Barcelona.

ETA has targeted the Bernabeu stadium before. In May 2002, an ETA
car bomb exploded nearby hours before a European Champions League
semi-final and 17 people were treated for shock or slight injuries.
ETA warned of that attack in a call to Gara.

This week has seen a resurgence of violence by ETA after months of
relative inactivity. ETA set off bombs in seven cities across Spain
on

Monday, slightly wounding five people on Constitution Day, the day
Spaniards celebrate unity.

Three days before that, coordinated ETA bombings at five Madrid
service stations marked the first attack on the capital in two
years.

The bombings showed ETA remained capable of high-profile attacks
despite more than 100 arrests this year including the capture of
the group's leader in France two months ago.

ETA, Western Europe's most active armed militant group and listed
as terrorist by the European Union, has killed nearly 850 people
since 1968 in a bombing and shooting campaign for Basque
independence from Spain and France.
Reuters